CLASSROOM STUFF. FINALLY!

So second week of teaching is over!!

Let's do a quick run down then we'll get to pics:

* I teach 5th and 6th graders only
* Each class has between 26-31 students
* On Mondays and Fridays I do 5 5th grade classes in a row
* Tue, Wed, Thurs I do four 6th grade classes in a row, or twice a week for them
* The 6th graders come to my room, we go to the 5th grade rooms. Each has a clock with a different time. I am going to come early one of these days and fix that!
* Classes are from 9am - 2:30pm, 6 total periods with 50 minutes for lunch. I work from 8:40-4:40.
* Each class is taught with a co-teacher, both are awesome I couldn't have hoped for better
* All the 6th grade classes are in my/our English classroom with a touch screen TV
* All the students are pretty much awesome, I rarely have to discipline
* We use the text book a lot, it has a lot of videos, songs and materials
      -- The songs are really catchy and I sing them all the time outside of class
      -- However each lesson has 7 units. That's 7 classes on one topic/sometimes sentence. Next week's topic is: "I'll visit your house tomorrow." Which sounds like a vague mafia threat to me but I digress. 
* The school is considered sort of small, and it's a neighborhood school so all the students walk
* My job here is primarily as a conversation and pronunciation teacher. Unlike my last job, where I had to run the classroom and give tests and all that, here I am used almost specifically for my accent, and of course helping run the classes.

Here is my 6th grade classroom!

That's my desk. Above is the TV with the whiteboards. Out those windows you can see the building where I live which is pretty cool. The classroom is almost TOO spacious! The only complaint that I've gotten from either co-teacher is from my 6th grade one, who has said a few times that I walk around the room while I talk and that students are constantly having to turn their heads and follow me. I say, "but that keeps them paying attention!" but really, I don't even notice that I'm doing it.

Above is the 5th grade class in action. They are playing a game that I designed where there are three paper dice: one with 6 names, one with 6 countries, and one with 6 emotions. Each has a point (1-6) value, the students had to roll all three dice and say, "My name is ____, I am from ____, I'm feeling ______ today." If the students say the sentence correctly they get to add up the point value. First to 50 points wins. I got off work at noon yesterday and I had till 4:40 to kill so I spent 90 minutes cutting out and making those dice all for an 8 minute activity, but I think it worked well.


So in total I teach about 360 students. I remember each class by the four or five students that stick out for whatever reason.

More updates to come!